31 for 21 Day 2 Surprise! Wyatt Starts School!

 
 wyatt turned 3 shortly after we moved this summer.  when a child who is in the early intervention program turns 3, he transitions out of that program into the public school system.  it was NEVER our intention to put him in the public school system when he turned 3!   no way, no how!    we wanted him in an inclusive environment with all typical children who were talking! when will i ever learn to stop saying "no way"???   'cause you just never know.....


not so sure about all this attention!

wyatt had been receiving 7 therapies a week for the past several months, all provided through early intervention at NO COST TO US!!!   a rough estimate of what those therapies would have cost WEEKLY would be $650-700......WHOA!!!   we knew that we were blessed through that program, but certainly didn't realize what we would be missing once he transitioned out of it!  

1st day of school!

once we moved and did not immediately access private therapy for him, we began to see a difference in his development..... he was not progressing as he had been.  of course everything was new.... new town, new house, new church, new friends....   although we had him enrolled in a private Christian preschool, we met with the county's pre-k exceptional services director to see what services we could access for him in the area of therapies.  much to our surprise, we found them to be quite accommodating of our needs and desires for wyatt's education.   they were open to us enrolling him 3 mornings a week, as opposed to the full day/every day program that is available, and they were willing to place him in a class with children who were talking....  

ms amy, wyatt's teacher,
carrying him in on the first day of school!

principal smith checking on wyatt
for nervous mama!

at that point our heads were spinning because that was NOT our plan!!!  but we knew that we could not provide him with all of the private therapies that would be available to him in the public school system.   we had a last-minute IEP (individualized educational plan) meeting, and met the team that would work with him; his teacher (miss amy), and two of the therapists (speech and occupational).  we were thrilled with his team, and with how smoothly the process went!  we were told he would receive 1 1/2 hours of speech, and 1/2 hour each of occupational and physical therapies each week, as well as adaptive physical education.   we decided that we would place him in the public school system, knowing that if this was not a good "fit," we could always remove him!  

and now, 6 weeks later, we are VERY HAPPY with the decision we made, and i'll be sharing in the coming days all that he has been up to!!! 

blessings!